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SpaceX Will Deliver 40 'Mousetronauts' To The Space Station

Later this year, when SpaceX next sends one of its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, it will have some crew members on board – 40 “mousetronauts” who will be living in the International Space Station for about six months.

The mice are part of a series of experiments that NASA is conducting to understand the effect that microgravity has on the human body by extrapolating its effect on mice. This effort is to assist mission planners for NASA’s planned manned exploration of Mars and other parts of the solar system. While astronauts on the Space Station spend up to six months in microgravity, these other missions could last two years or more.

Since mice usually only live for about two years, six months of living on the International Space Station is a quarter of a mouse’s life span. By examining how weightlessness affects the mice, researchers can extrapolate those effects to years of a human lifespan.

The mice will live in reusable habitat modules that can hold up to ten mice apiece. The habitat modules provide food and water, and have grids along the floor, ceiling and walls so that the mice can easily move around. The modules are also equipped with video and infared cameras so the health of the mice can be monitored.

One of the habitat modules for mice living aboard the ISS. (Credit: NASA/Dominic Hart)

This is not, however, a giant leap for mousekind, as mice have been going to space for many years. For several decades, NASA sent mice to space in short stints on board the space shuttle, and two mouse immunology studies have been previously performed on board the International Space Station.

The next Dragon launch to the International Space Station will be the fourth of twelve that the company is contracted to send between now and the end of 2015. The contract’s value is $1.6 billion.

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